Gas or vapor electric apparatus.



No. 896,243. PATENTED AUG. 18, 1908. M. VON RECKLINGHAUSEN.

GAS 0R VAPOR ELECTRIC APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED PEB.20, 190s. RENEWED FEB. 19, 1907.

- lnvezzior M n R: JIZM M UNITED STATES PATENT @FFICE,

MAX VON REGKLINGHAUSEN, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR TO COOPER HEWITT ELECTRIC COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

GAS on VAPOR ELECTRIC APPARATUS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 18, 1908.

Application filed. February 20, 1903, Serial No. 144,202. Renewed February 19, 1907. Serial No. 358,216.

T all whom it 1mty c0ncern.'

Be it known that I, MAX VON Rncxtmenausea, a subject of the Emperor of (wrmany, and a resident of New York, in the county of New York and State of New York,

a have invented certain new and useful Imally the starting means which provements in Gas or Vapor Electric Apparatus, oi which the following is a specification.

,lu operating vapor electric apparatus in which a conducting gas or vapor is inclosed within a suitable. container and provided with electrodes, it has been found advantageous to cause certain mechanical operations to take )lace within the body of the container. For example, it has been pro osed to cause a circulation of a liquid throng 1 the containing vessel for the purpose of regulating the purity, density and tem erature. of the conducting gas or vapor. nother instance in point is that wherein a mechanical separation of a positive and a negative electrode is caused in the container for the purosc of creating a condition suited for starting the device into operation. It is to be understood that the container must be kept gas tight; otherwise the normal conditions of o erations would be seriously disturbed. I: itherto, the mechanical movement thus desired to be accomplished, and other movements within the container, have been roduced by force acting fl'OllitllO outside of the wall of the container, without the direct transmission of the force through the walls.

The present invention relates broadly to devices for producing the movement of a part or parts within the container for any purpose by transmitting motion from the outside to the inside of a sealed container without destroying the integrit of the seal.

Secondaril y, the invention v re ates specifically to such devices as may perform the function of creating what I may call a starting condition inside the container.

In order to illustrate-the broader aspects of the invention, I have shown not only means for starting theapparatus but also means for creating a pumping efiect within the container ibr causing an artificial circulation of the liquid constltutin stance the electrodes 0 the a paratus.

The first named-device ,em odies specificconstitute the in the present in-.

secondary object of the invention. In respect to such secondary object it ma be said t lat it has been proposed to provu e in the first instance a conducting ath, say of metal,

through the apparatus, lI1( ependently of the conducting gas or vapor, and to set the device into operation by breaking the continuity of the said ath inside the container, either automatical y, as-by the use of a magnet or solenoid, or mechanically, as by shaking or tilting the apparatus and thereb causing the desired interruption of continuity. It is found that the sparking which follows the ru ture of the metallic path inside the contamer'is suflicient to create the.

condition necessary for starting the device,

after which the operation will continue between the main electrodes.

, I In s eaking of metal as constituting th'e origina circuit within the container, I do not wish to exclude any suitable conducting material. for to the circuit to be ruptured as a metallic circuit. Other means have also been devised for creating a local passage of electric current at one of the main electrodes and thereby-starting the operation.

Considered with relation to 1ts secondary For convenience, however, I re-' object, the present invention is designed to 'I provide means forstarting an apparatus of this class b acting directly upon the circuit ru turing 1 evices as by means of a magnet a ecting a core or armature located outslde the container and in direct mechanical connection with the circuit rupturing ap aratus. The same. effects can be produced y hand without the intervention of the magnet or solenoid, if movement t rou h the wall of the container may, however, e utilized to accomplish other results besides those pertaining to the o eration of a starting device, and this actlon will be described in the present applica:

'tion as a feature of the broad invention.

In the drawing Figure 1 illustrates diagrammatically certain circuits and apparatus adapted to carry out the invention both in its broad and specific form, and Fig. 2 is a section of an a paratus embodying a separate s eciesof t e same invention.

Re erri to Fig. 1, the container is shown at 1, and t e'electrodes thereof at 2 and 3. In this instance the electrodes may be aspreferred. The transmission of wires 6 and 7 connected with any suitable source of electrical supply. In the con- 'ductor, 7, I interpose a solenoid, 8, and a switch 9. The core, 10, of the solenoid is connected with or forms a part of a rod, 11, which is bent, as shown, and carried up through a tube, 12, forming an extension of the container 1. The tube 12 is bent at the bottom and terminates inside a vessel, 13, containing mercury. At its up or end, 15, the rod 10 is formed into a T-s m e in the present instance, and the ends of t 10 T are adapted to dip into the mercuryof the electro connection between the sald electrodes. The parts are represented in the position which they are to occupy when the main circuit, 6 and 7, is open. On the closing of the switch, 9, a circuit through the apparatus is completed by way of the electrode 3, the

hear 15, and the electrode 2. When the circuit is thus completed, the solenoid 8 becomes energized and lifts the core 10 sufficiently to break contact between the head of the rod and the electrodes 2 and 3, in cona sequence of which a spark is formed at each point of ru ture and t e necessary condition is produce for starting the apparatus into operation. flow through the apparatus, say from the electrode 3 to the electrode 2, in the usual manner. r

I have illustrated a very simple form of starting apparatus, but it-is evident that the same princlple may be applied to the more complex types. 1

In Fig. 2 the principle above set forthis applied to the operation of an overflow or the rod 11 b pumplng a paratus which may be 0 erated' esiredy.

001113111110118 y or intermittently as The head 15 of the rod 11 is here pivoted at 16 inside the container and carries at its o posite ends flanges 17 and 1 8 which may e into the mercury electro es 2 and 3. hen this dipping process takes dplace, any excess of mercury will be cause .to overflow into the tube 12, producing-a pumping operation. 7 The lower end of the rod 11 is connected .to an eccentric 19 on a shaft 20, which is connected by a bolt 21 with a pu'lley22 on the metal shaft 23. The last named shaft ma be operated by any suitable motor, ort e motor can be dispensed with and a crank may be applied to the shaft 20, permitting the reciprocation of hand. I a Any suita le'means may be provided for replenishing and coolin the mercury constituting the electrodes, ut it has only been cs 2 and 3, thus completing an electrical The current then continues toent invention.

The mercury in its descent carries wit-hit a? certain amount of vapor in the container, ,7 acting on theprmciple of a Sprengel pump.

Mercury is herein mentioned asthe mate rial of the electrodes, although any suitable conducting fluid may be substituted for he mercury, and one or more of the electroi'ies may be formed of solid material, such as iron. I claim as myinvention:

1. The combination with a gas or vapor electric apparatus comprising an hermetically sealed container, electrodes therein, and an. intervening gas or vapor, of a continuous conductor through the apparatus independent of the conducting gas orvapor therein, and means for interrupting the continuity of the said conductor for starting the a )paratus, such means being connected dlrectly with a movable part of the conductor.

2. The combination-with a gas or vapor electric a )paratus comprising anhermetically sealed container, electrodes therein, and an intervening gas or vapor, of a conductor passing through the apparatus independent of the conducting gas or vapor therein, means for interrupting said conductor, such means being provided with an extension running to a polnt outside the contaiiwr, and means for causing an interruption of the conductor by moving the said extension. V

3. The combination with a gas or vapor electric a )paratus comprising an hermetic-- ally seale container, electrodes therein, and an intervening gas or vapor, of a conductor passing through the apparatus independent of the conducting gas or vapor, an extension of the apparatus, and a suitable seal therefor,

,in combination with-means for interrupting.

said conductor, said means being provided with a shank passing through said extension, and operatin means for said shank outside the body of the apparatus...

4. The combination electric a ally seale container, electrodes therein, and an intervening gas or vapor, of a conductor. passing through the apparatus independent of the conducting gas or vapor, an extension of the apparatus, and a suitable seal therefor, in combination with circuit rupturing means provided with a shank passin through the said extension to'a' point outsir e the said apparatus.

5. In a gas or vapor electricapparatus, a gas tight container, devices withlnthe same subject to mechanical movement, mechanical with a gas or vapor connections from the said devices to the exterior of the container, and means for operatin the said mechanical connections Without isturbing the gas tig'ht condition of the container.

6. 'In a gas or vapor electric apparatus, a

paratus comprising an hermeticgas-tight container, an extension thereof, a liquid seal closing the said extension, and means passing through the said extension for causing mechanical motion within the 5 container without destroying the seal.

7. In a gas or vapor electric apparatus, a gas-tight container provided with an opening, a seal for the said opening, a movable device within the container, and means for actuating 10 the movable device, such means passing thgpugh the opening without destroying the se I o Signed at New York, in the county of New York, and State of New York,.this 14th day of February A. D. 1903.

' MAX VON REGKLINGH'AUSER.

Witnesses:

WM. H.-C'APEL, 

